MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Miami Cubans oppose continuing embargo on Castro regime

A new US public opinion poll shows long-time support for the US embargo against Cuba is falling among the Cuban-American community in Miami, which reflects a shift of opinion away from harsh policies towards the Fidel and Raul Castro regime.

The question has been a staple in the yearly poll conducted by Florida International University since 1991. Cuban-Americans in the Miami area are asked whether they favour or oppose continuing the US embargo of Cuba. For years, the majority of Cuban exiles supported the trade restrictions even while recognizing the embargo had little impact on the Castro regime in Havana. But the latest poll shows the tide is shifting, and now 55% of people said they oppose continuing the embargo. "The biggest factor in the changing position on the embargo is the number of younger people who arrived more recently from Cuba has been increasing. And the number of people who arrived in the 1960s has been decreasing" said Hugh Gladwin, director of the university's Institute for Public Opinion Research, which conducts the poll. Recent arrivals tend to favour closer ties with Cuba, partly because they still have family and friends on the island, while those who fled Cuba decades ago have powerful feelings about the rise of former President Fidel Castro and his one time Moscow supported government. Elsewhere in the United States, the embargo and US policy toward Cuba receives little attention. Most US citizens do not support the trade and economic restrictions which were first imposed in 1962 and expanded in 1996. Another key question the poll asked was what should happen now, and what president-elect Barack Obama should do when he takes office next month. Gladwin said researchers are still studying the responses, which included people saying they expected Mr. Obama to make no real changes. "But I would say much more frequently were responses like 'maybe now things will change.' The thing I noticed a lot is that people are just fed up with the situation," said Gladwin. During the campaign, president-elect Barack Obama tried to tap into frustrations about how US policy has failed to weaken the Marxist oriented government in Havana. He did not promise to end the embargo, but the incoming president said he will review other US restrictions and would be open to meeting Cuban leaders. However the big question is whether Cuba policy and possible reforms will be high on the political agenda, once Mr. Obama takes office.